Storyboarding: a few issues that need to be addressed

[ammoniteboy]

As a professional story board artist I like the addition of the project tab window but if it is to be a functional story boarding tool there are a few issues that need to be addressed.

1.) Your clips function is completely un-usable, it only clutters and complicates the boarding process. Linking a single shot together as a series of "clips" is a great idea, don't get me wrong, but in order for that idea to work all of the "clips" need to share the same timeline. By giving them their own timelines you have made it impossible for "clips" to share backgrounds, layers, etc. Going back and forth, cutting and pasting, adding and dealiting clipc is driving me crazy. If a scene represents a shot and that shot is broken down into a series of clips that represent key moments in that shot, then they all need to share the same timeline because in the end they all express a single shot. Splitting it up complicates everything.

May I suggest a solution, simplify the entire process by just adding the ability to mark specific frames within the scene timeline. In your project window those selected frames would show up as "clips" which you could then add all of your meta data too. When one moves on to animation those marked frames/"clips" would essentially become key frames and would be marked as such. Un-marked frames would not show up in the projects window.

example: I've highlighted frames in the scene window below that I would like to be treated as keyframes or "clips" ideally these should also be easy to move and swap around.

The project window shows only the frames selected in the scene window

shota.jpg (23.61 KiB) Viewed 13001 times

A scene file with selected frames to be used as clips

shotb.jpg (46.39 KiB) Viewed 12064 times

2.) My second major problem with this system is the way it assumes that every frame you draw is going to end up in the movie. This never happens. You despretely need to add the ability to "turn off" specific frames. Not delete them! Who knows if you will need them in the future. Countless times I have wanted the ability to grey out or hide frames. This would make life so much easier especially when storyboarding!

3.)In the project window, please turn off the animated board windows its very annoying. Just show the first frame. Every time to try a point to a board it jumps all over the place. Its fun for about five minutes and then just gets in the way.

4.)OK this is a big one! By default don't name everything Untitled, assign every frame/board/clip a unique serial number that follows it anywhere it goes. Its fine to add names and other tiles but for the most part this isn't as important as a serial number. Scripts change, scene numbers change, characters and event names change so titles are often pointless. The only thing that shouldn't change is the boards specific serial ID number. This way it can always be found. This is a common problem six months into a production. someone sees a piece of art pinned on the wall and no one knows who drew it or where to find it. Please, please please add serial numbers!! Ideally make them in a format that other programs like final cut pro can read as well, like xml. That way post production programs can read the board files.

Thanks for the wonderful program, thats all for now.

cheers

-S

[Paul Fierlinger]

I have no doubt that your passion to improve something here is sincere but I can't help but wonder how many other storyboard artists might join in to say that this does nothing or very little to the way they work. Don't we all develop our very own work flows whether we shine shoes or walk dogs for a living?

1.) Your clips function is completely un-usable, it only clutters and complicates the boarding process.

It works for me and I know it works for others because I've heard others say so. Actually, the storyboard functionality has brought me back to storyboarding which I had given up on a long time ago. This system declutters the process for me because it simplifies the work flow from first sketch to completed scene.

2.) My second major problem with this system is the way it assumes that every frame you draw is going to end up in the movie. This never happens.

I don't see how this system assumes such a thing. I erase, change or delete frames all the time. It's easy; it takes just fractions of a second.

May I suggest a solution, simplify the entire process by just adding the ability to mark specific frames within the scene timeline. In your project window those selected frames would show up as "clips" which you could then add all of your meta data too. When one moves on to animation those marked frames/"clips" would essentially become key frames and would be marked as such. Un-marked frames would not show up in the projects window.

Sorry, I have trouble following this because you have included every function of production into a single stroke -- or something... as if one was expected to complete a film on a single timeline.

But I should just stop right here and first ask you if you draw your frames within TVP, or do you scan your drawings from paper?

[Elodie]

2.) My second major problem with this system is the way it assumes that every frame you draw is going to end up in the movie. This never happens. You despretely need to add the ability to "turn off" specific frames. Not delete them! Who knows if you will need them in the future. Countless times I have wanted the ability to grey out or hide frames. This would make life so much easier especially when storyboarding!

I agree with this request. It could be useful, but I'm afraid this option costs a lot of memory. And, by the way, the big interest of this new feature is to keep the final result. If you keep every wrong scene, it could be very strange for someone to understand what you've done into your storyboard. But I'd say "why not" (even if I do prefer put "bad" scene into another file, just in case)

3.)In the project window, please turn off the animated board windows its very annoying. Just show the first frame. Every time to try a point to a board it jumps all over the place. Its fun for about five minutes and then just gets in the way.

Why show the first frame ? The first frame is not necessarily the best "picture" to sum up the current clip. That's why we always show the current frame (it can be the 5th one). The little animation is useful for people who make animatics, because they can see the rythm. Maybe we can have a toggled option for this into the preferences, but we cannot add options for everything : many people find TVP complicated, so we have to make choices to simplify the workflow =)

4.)OK this is a big one! By default don't name everything Untitled, assign every frame/board/clip a unique serial number that follows it anywhere it goes. Its fine to add names and other tiles but for the most part this isn't as important as a serial number. Scripts change, scene numbers change, characters and event names change so titles are often pointless. The only thing that shouldn't change is the boards specific serial ID number. This way it can always be found. This is a common problem six months into a production. someone sees a piece of art pinned on the wall and no one knows who drew it or where to find it. Please, please please add serial numbers!! Ideally make them in a format that other programs like final cut pro can read as well, like xml. That way post production programs can read the board files.

Eer... there are scenes and clips serial on each clip. And that's also why we use an information panel on the right. Thanks to this panel, nobody hesitate about the author or the creation date. By the way, a serial number won't be useful : imagine there 3 storyboarders. Each storyboarder will create a storyboard with serial-numbered clip. At the end, you will have 3 clips, with the same serial number, but not with the same contain...
You have to write the serial number, such as "Sequence1_Scene_2_Plan3", not TVP =)

storyboard.png (71.99 KiB) Viewed 12963 times

[ZigOtto]

I agree it's more oriented "Animatic" than pure "Storyboard", and personally, I won't complaint for that !

btw, a Hide Image/Clip/Sequence to (temporary) skip it in the playback could be imo an interesting feature in the creative process.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I agree it's more oriented "Animatic" than pure "Storyboard", and personally, I won't complaint for that !

I agree and I don't know why this hadn't occurred to me in my reply. Storyboards are traditionally pasted up on walls and geared towards collective bull-sessions, whereas what the Project Tab is more about is the organization of first ideas into production steps, which I find very modern in its digital approach. It is a practical tool and helps me see my work as if I would be stepping back from a canvas.

This is also why the animated icons work so well for me, and particularly in the HTML format when e-mailing to a client or co-worker such as a composer. How many times in the past have I become frustrated when discussing my boards with a client and trying to get through to them the idea that once in motion, my concept will work. I have also noticed that ad agencies of late have been changing their approach to boards as well.

The days of rows of panels, giving the story a comic book character, seem to be fading away to the modern approach of making story ideas look more like film posters. I think it would be a mistake if TVP would cling to a concept that is on its way out and commend the developers for finding a conceptual approach that reflects the new technologies most of us now work with.